When I called TJ this afternoon, he was grateful for the opportunity to play for the Sharks with Joe Thornton and Brent Burns and expressed his thanks to GM Doug Wilson for giving him a chance, to some degree, to pick what team he was going to be dealt to.

“This offseason, I didn’t think a trade would be one of those things that would come up,” Galiardi said. “But you know the way things work in hockey, it’s a business. And the numbers with the cap going down, they changed, and I don’t think I was going to be a fit in the top 6 there anymore in San Jose. It went from there and I’m happy to be in Calgary.”

“I just got off the phone with Jumbo, he gave me a call. I think he was just as surprised as I was, we loved playing together, Burnzie included, and we had really fun time together. They definitely elevated my game and I hope I was able to do that a bit for them too. But you know how it goes. We wouldn’t be talking about this if we had went all the way and done the job that we were supposed to. Hockey’s a business and San Jose’s going to move forward and so am I.”

I asked Galiardi if he thought he might get dealt when the Sharks traded for Tyler Kennedy. The Sharks did not have a ton of room under the cap and the deal saves the team about $1 million.

“You get little thoughts in the back of your head as to what they’re going to do. I don’t think it was final when they picked up Kennedy that I was going to be gone,” he said. “You speculate a little, but who knows who’s going to play with Jumbo and Burnzie now. It’s not really my issue anymore and I’m just looking forward to the next step in my career.”